En route to a symposium in San Francisco, Sisko, Dax, and Bashir are lost during transport to Earth from the Defiant. The trio materializes in San Francisco, but in the year 2024. Apprehended by a pair of policemen, Sisko and Bashir are taken to a 'Sanctuary District' -- a gated area of the city where homeless, mentally ill, and unemployed people are locked away from the rest of society. Separated from the others, Dax is found by a prominent businessman named Chris Brynner, who takes her to his office and helps her obtain the I.D. card necessary to exist in this society. Dax doesn't reveal where she comes from, but tells him that her friends are missing. Meanwhile, in the Sanctuary District, Sisko and Bashir are taken to a processing center, where no records of their existence are found. Sisko learns the date and realizes that they have arrived just days before a crucial event in history, the Bell Riots, which occurred in the area of the city where he and Bashir are now confined.
